for my reference

A few weeks ago, one of our assistant pastors preached an excellent message on joy. I love the topic of joy in the Bible because I love to be happy. But the pastor pointed out the source of our joy. Awesome!

(Please excuse me if this is not exactly correct. I'm copying off my notes -- which was my take-away from the sermon.)

1. Joy in the performance of God's work
Ps. 126:5 - They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Luke 15:10 - Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

2. Joy in the power of Christ's resurrection
Matthew 28:8 - and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

3. Joy in the pursuant of God's will
Hebrews 12:2 - Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

4. Joy in His presence
Acts 2:28 - Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Acts 13:52 - And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

George Muller said that the Christian's greatest responsibility is to rejoice in His God.

Amen!!

game for tomorrow on bus route

So...a while ago, I painted this shoe box for a game for bus. I also bought three packages of alphabet stickers that were all the same font and (as you can see in the pictures below) put them on different colors of computer paper and laminated them. It's great to have a box full of letters as a quick, go-to game for bus. Here's how I'm doin' the game tomorrow.

When it's their turn to pick, a kid will be able to choose (without looking) one vowel and two consonants. They will put the letters they pull on their team's side. The team (collectively) will try to form words as there are more letters put up on their side. Each word has to be a name from the Bible or the name of a book in the Bible. Once a word is formed, points will be added based upon the colors of each alphabet piece.

Hopefully that made sense!! And as a side note, it did take a lot of time to laminate all those letters but it sure has been worth it. I've used them lots of times already and plan on continuing their use in the future!

I'm terribly sorry I've had nothing to say lately.

Isn't that

P
A
T
H
E
T
I
C

??

on Memorial Day

First of all, Thank you to all of our soldiers. We are indebted to you for the freedoms we enjoy in America.

A group of us "single girls" from the church went on a bike ride along L*a*ke Shore Drive in Ch*i*cago. It was a cloudy day and a little windy, especially because we were right on the lake. And we did remember the reason for the holiday. One of the girls who went had an uncle that died heroically in WWII. She told us he would have received the Congressional Medal of Honor but there was no one of higher rank in the area to witness his heroic deeds. He went ahead into battle because he did not have a wife or children back home and his buddies did. Wow!

So here are a few pics:

the lake on a cloudy day

the lake on a cloudy day with the steel mills in the background (hello, pollution!)

one of the few marinas we passed on our jaunt



Jamba Juice stop!

one of the girls and I grabbed some pastries at this cafe; reasonably priced for downtown Chicago which was wonderful!

downtown street view

the pile of bikes in the back of our big white van; seven total!

one week from today....

....My Mom and I are heading to my desired place of residence.

We'll be eating at places like this and this. (Read: seafood galore!)

We'll be shopping until we drop. Literally. We did it last year and plan to do it again. They have such nice, gorgeous clothes in the South. Not kidding. At all. Another reason I wish I lived in the South.

We'll be meeting my northern-born & bred cousin who now lives in the heart of the deep South because of #1 his job and #2 his girlfriend. He's my favorite cousin!

We'll be relishing in Southern hospitality and hot, humid temperatures.

Yay. I'm not excited. At all.

Riiiiiiiiight.

:)

our new hobby

tomatoes, squash, and zucchini

onions, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach seeds, and a cantaloupe

herbs - herbs - herbs

cucumbers

peas - a lot! (too many?? we'll see!)

the entire thing!

Ok...so I can't attend three weddings in three weeks in a row at our church without talking about weddings! This is typically a topic I steer clear of. Not because I'm bitter or cynical...umm...no, but what's the point? My mind has been spinning with things I want to do if/when I get married. I always say, "if/when" because I truly don't know if I will get married(at this point).

Side note: singleness isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be. Of course there are lonely times. And after a wedding, I would be lying if I didn't say I wished it for myself. But it truly isn't that bad.

Ok so last night, the girl that got married was a year younger than me in school. We grew up together. Her mom is the one I've mentioned before who recently passed away with cancer. It was the sweetest wedding. After the vows & prayer, the pastor forgot to say, "you may kiss the bride"; he just went right into the part...."I'd now like to introduce...". We're all sitting there, like, um....the kissing part? The groom leaned over to the pastor and you could hear him say, "Can I kiss her?" Everyone just started laughing. It was great. It took off any tinge of sadness that was present because the bride's mother wasn't there and totally dispelled it (at least I thought). The reception was fun and happy. It was just absolutely one of the best weddings I've been to at our church!

It's so fun to dream....every once in a while....about "some day, at my wedding....".

gorgeousness!

gratefulness

I just want to thank you, Lord
For every time You've heard me pray
I just want to thank you, Lord
For always being there

When I was so down and out
You came along, made me want to shout
I just want to thank you, Lord
Thank you, Lord

If I had a thousand lives to live
I'd live them all for my Lord
He's been so good to me
It's the least I could afford
He's made the bad times nothing but glad
He's the best Friend I've ever had
I just want to thank you, Lord
Thank you, Lord

When I was so deep in sin
Having no hope, no peace within
I just called on Your name
You took all my sin and my shame
When I was so down and out
You came along made me want to shout
I just want to thank you, Lord
Thank you, Lord

I'm cheering for these plants!

Burst Forth!

Burst Forth!

This is one of our peony bushes. I'm super excited about this one because we have had it for several years and have never gotten any flowers from the bush.

This is a gardenia tree. It was my mom's Mother's Day present from my dad. It sits on our back porch. We are anxiously awaiting gorgeous smelling blooms!

I'm singing

Servant of All

Verse 1:
Thirty years she's never missed a Sunday
She's the first one there, the last one out the door
Thirty thousand times through "Jesus loves me"
And with gladness in her heart, she'll teach it more
She's given of her time, her love, her talents
And never had the spotlight or applause
But hundreds who through her first learned the Gospel
Are thankful she was faithful to the call

Chorus:
If you want to be great in the Kingdom
Learn to be the servant of all
You may not receive great adoration
God will be pleased if you answer the call
Learn to be the servant of all

Verse 2:
Every Sunday night when church is over
He picks his Bible up and heads for home
For many in this little congregation
He's the only shepherd they have ever known
He's preached the Word and prayed for them at midnight
Held their hands through sorrow one by one
And even though he's hardly earned a penny
God will remember everything he's done

CHORUS

texting

So on my phone, texting is not in the plan. Yep. I'm one of those backwards, hilly-billy peoples that's not up to date with society. I don't have texting on my phone! (Wish I did, though.) I do send and receive a few but I try to keep them to a minimum, I mostly use it for communicating with a lady I work for.

Anyways, about a week and a half ago, I received a text message that said "hello....". I don't respond to texts that say "hello....". So I deleted it. Within a few hours, I received another text message that said, "hello......". I'm like, WHO IN THE WORLD??? So I did a reverse phone look up and was able to pinpoint who it might have been. Turns out it was a friend who had recently gotten my number. Okay.

So last night I got a text that said - I quote - "your mad...". Well actually, no, I'm not mad. WHO IN THE WORLD?

(And it's you're not your.)

So I texted back saying, "Who is this????"

Turns out it was some guy named Adam looking for Sara.

The 3rd text he sent said, "my bad. sorry bout that your probably not mad at all! have a good life" I typed that exactly as I received it. Whew!!! Our language and writing skills are going out the same window as excessive texting!

Anyways, that last text cracked me up. I did not respond to it but it just made me laugh. From one stranger to another, "have a good life".

Are ya'll texting fiends?

just thinking...

Events have led me to ponder this thought over the past couple of days. I've contemplated this before, but it's been brought up again to my memory.

You know the verse in Ruth (ok....specifically....ch. 2 vs. 3) where it's talking about Ruth and her going into Boaz' field. It says, "...and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz." In other words, she just happened upon Boaz' field. She wasn't out searching for him. She wasn't putting the spotlights out for him. She wasn't chasing him. Confession: can I tell you how many times I've failed that verse in college? And it took me a little bit after college to actually understand that the guy was to find me not me find him. And before ya'll go thinking that I was some nasty girl chasing guys, I'm not saying that! AT ALL!

I'm just sayin' that I think girls sometimes try to arrange dates, etc...with guys instead of letting God arrange it. I think that girls should just be going about their normal daily routine and in doing the normal, God brings the guy.

My parents quote Dr. Bob (Jones, Sr.) with a very incredible quote. It kind of follows the same theme. You don't find happiness looking for it, but rather stumble upon it on the path of duty. Forgive me if it is not word perfect but you get the idea.

Girls don't (necessarily) find the guy that God wants for them looking and searching for "Mr. Perfect" but rather doing what God has called them to do and in doing that, HE brings "Mr. Perfect" into their life.

I think a lot of ya'll single girls who read here are of the same mind. I just wanted to put it down in a post because I've been thinking about it lately.

Confusing? Hopefully not.

purchase of the day!

I found these CUTE measuring cups at Pier 1 today.

So adorable!

They are ceramic.

Only $10!

So retro/vintage!

I just have to write this because kids crack me up.

Side note: (I was just reading at another blog about something a little kid said to his mother. Literally. Laughing. Out loud.)

Okay. So the kid I tutor in reading is hysterical. He's totally "all-boy". Kinda reminds me of my brother who wasn't interested in school. But this kid cracks me up on a regular basis during reading. How he reads words is funny. I try not to laugh. And I'm definitely not laughing at his mistakes. Just the things he says are too funny.

For instance on one of the word cards was the word "museum". He's trying to sound it all out. He gives up and just says basically with a shrug of his shoulders, "mooooo-shoes"? "cantaloupe"? Cantaloupe? Where did he get cantaloupe? He says funny things like that all the time.

The funniest thing of all that he said tonight is hysterical. You wouldn't even really believe a kid would say it except that I wrote it down because I had to keep it for posterity. He read a sentence with the word "scientists" in it. As soon as he got done reading the sentence he said,

"Aren't scientists those people who learn about things that people don't really care about?"

What in the world? Cracked me up. Totally!

pics from our yard

I call this our "girl tree" because it is hot pink in the spring and so gorgeous!

Snapdragons....I am still pondering why we've never had these in our yard before. They are simply stunning.



One of the front pots. Not necessarily a good picture but you get the idea.
It was so sunny outside when I took these pics that I couldn't see the lcd screen.
Since this picture, my mom has added more vines around the bottom.

Happy Mother's Day

There was an article in our little town's paper on Friday from the 2nd graders in an area school. It was titled: "J*a*cks*o*n 2nd graders tell why Mom is special".

I highlighted my favorites:

My Mom is special to me because she...

-gave me a petite, ecstatic ravishing baby brother. (Elizabeth)
-is there when I am sick and vomiting repulsive vomit. (Ben)
-helps me through really difficult times, like thunderstorms and catastrophes. (Jack)
-brought me into this world and it makes me more than jubilant. (Neva)
-comforts me when I am melancholy. (Baylie)
-is the greatest cook because she had the best idea of a meat, cheese and lettuce sandwich with crinkle fries. (Anthony)
-is nice. She is so pretty when she goes to work. (Spencer)
-is the prettiest person in the world, she is my best friend and she is nice to me. (Ben)
-loves me and she rocks! (Elle)
-likes most people, is very kind, and is very clean. (Sally)
-cares about us because we care about her. (Nicole)
-is totally unbelievable because she is very lovable. (Dylan)
-helps me live with great healthcare, food, water and shelter. (Mitchell)

And that is only a sampling. You could tell by some of the children's that they bribe their mothers. (i.e. - is really nice and great because she lets me play wii. -Eric)

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

gardening

My mom and I went on our spring pilgrimage to the gardening center way out in the country. Love it! Filled with lots of old, classy, country people. Love it!

Our mission today:

• vegetables for our vegetable garden (we're building a raised bed this year)
• flowers for the front pots
• plants for the end of the driveway
• filler flowers
• hanging baskets

We saw:

• a lady with a pig (she was petting and holding it like it was a cat)
• beautiful conical shaped standing planters
• lots and lots of plastic hanging baskets (my Dad hates those!)
• so many pink and yellow and red and coral flowers to choose from
• an old man sitting in a chair putting boxes together for carry-out (I'd love that job!)

I tried to take a picture of our truck filled to capacity but my camera battery was dead again.

More pics later!

want some fun?

So I have not been feeling well for about a week. I think I'm kind of a little bit of a hypochondriac (maybe I'm not). When I was on my dad's insurance plan, girl, I went to the doctor at the drop of the hat because it was f-r-e-e!! Now that I'm on my own plan, and I pay for that plan........ummmmmmmmmm........yah - you get the picture. I stay far away from doctors. BUT, the Mayo Clinic symptom checker is my favorite diagnostic tool.

If you want some fun, go there and type in any and every real (or imagined) symptom you may have at the moment. Last night, I was clicking on my symptoms (hip pain, fatigue, etc.......) and I was given the suggestion that I might possibly have ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS. I'm dying!!!!!

My mom typed in my "symptoms" on her own this morning and came up with tendonitis which is totally not as scary.

So have some fun over at the MCSC especially after a hard day at home or work or school. You're probably guaranteed a chuckle!

Am totally loving the fact that this blog is/was on private.

No posting for over a week was blissful.

It was fun reading ya'lls posts.

I miss ya'll.

Did you miss me?

I'm all better!